


What's Wrong

by Angelicat2



Series: Sheith Month 2018 [10]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abuse, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Implied/Referenced Abuse, POV Keith (Voltron), POV Shiro (Voltron), Past Abuse, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Sheith Month 2018, day 10-suspicion/fidelity, sheithmonth2018, the universe is never nice to keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 21:53:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15276963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelicat2/pseuds/Angelicat2
Summary: Keith's hurt one day, and Shiro wants to know why.Shiro watched him turn his head back in the direction he had come from with a troubled and somewhat fearful look on his face. Shiro glanced that way too to see the room was one of the more unused ones that was now mainly a meeting room. Shiro dragged his eyes back to Keith when he let out a quiet whimper. Shiro’s concern only grew when Keith’s face looked pained.“Keith?”“I’m fine,” the young man crossed his arms but Shiro could see something on the corner of Keith’s jaw. Inspecting it further, it looked like a developing bruise that had to have come from a hand gripping his face.“Keith,” Shiro frowned as Keith backed up a little, “What’s wrong?”“I’m fine, Shiro,” Keith glared, but the older could see it wasn’t as heated as it was sometimes when he was enraged or frustrated, “Leave me alone.”





	What's Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> **Beware the tags, guys!** Nothing is described in that much detail but it is labeled as **attempted non-con** for a reason.

Keith knew Shiro was getting suspicious. He had already questioned him a few times now, each time never looking like he quite believed Keith was telling the truth. Keith couldn’t let Shiro find out. Not when his future was on the line. Not when he was supposed to pilot the Kerberos mission in less than a year. Not when the man went out of his way to support Keith and spend time with him. Not after he had become Keith’s only friend.

Some days, Keith avoided Shiro wherever he could. Other days, he tried to act normal, which wasn’t hard when the other made him forget his troubles. But he especially couldn’t let Shiro see him on the days he was...having problems. He completely made sure to not be seen by much of anyone, much less the top Golden Boy. It was only twice a month that Keith had to put up with it anyway, so he could get by. No one else knew about it, and Keith needed it kept that way. If someone were to find out, Shiro could be at risk.

So it was a surprise when he was called into detention when he hadn’t done anything wrong. Keith tried to recall what it could be for. He hadn’t been late for any classes, had turned in all his homework with all correct answers, had aced his simulator test, and everything. He’d also gotten in some time to spar with Shiro, so it was about fifteen hundred hours when he’d been notified that he was supposed to go to detention. When he got to the classroom, he was surprised to see who he saw. His unease turned to dread.

…..

Shiro hummed to himself. He was just done with an assignment, turning it into the office. Walking away, he stopped as he heard a noise. Brows moving down in confusion, he let out a mental shrug when it didn’t continue. Turning back to the hallway to go back to the common area where he thought Keith may be at that moment, he was surprised to almost run into him at the next turn. They both sprawled out onto the hard ground as Shiro let out a grunt. 

“Woah, Keith,” Shiro rubbed his bottom as he stood up, “You came out of nowhere. I was just about to look for you, and I-”

Shiro paused as he saw Keith. The younger cadet was shaking slightly. The pallor of his skin made him look like he had seen a ghost. His breathing was concerning Shiro as his violet-tinted eyes stared at Shiro’s knees. Shiro crouched beside his best friend only for him to flinch back.

“Keith?” He tilted his head as he laid his hand on the younger’s shoulder only to feel the tension under the orange cadet uniform, which now that Shiro looked at it, was ruffled and part way unzipped, “What happened to your jacket? You never wear it like this. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Keith hissed as he pushed Shiro’s arm away, pushing himself to his feet, “Just got done with detention…”

Shiro watched him turn his head back in the direction he had come from with a troubled and somewhat fearful look on his face. Shiro glanced that way too to see the room was one of the more unused ones that was now mainly a meeting room. Shiro dragged his eyes back to Keith when he let out a quiet whimper. Shiro’s concern only grew when Keith’s face looked pained.

“Keith?”

“I’m fine,” the young man crossed his arms but Shiro could see something on the corner of Keith’s jaw. Inspecting it further, it looked like a developing bruise that had to have come from a hand gripping his face.

“Keith,” Shiro frowned as Keith backed up a little, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine, Shiro,” Keith glared, but the older could see it wasn’t as heated as it was sometimes when he was enraged or frustrated, “Leave me alone.”

“Keith,” Shiro could see that Keith was not feeling well at all. He looked ready to race away at any moment, and still, every few seconds looked at the same door. Something had happened, something the other wasn’t telling him.

“I said I’m fine,” Keith shouted before he recoiled again and turned away, “I’m...I’m going to sleep.”

“At three in the afternoon?” Shiro’s concern grew as Keith didn’t so much as look at him, “Something’s wrong, Keith. You know you can tell me, right? If anything’s bothering you-”

“Shiro-”

“Did you get into another fight?” Shiro asked helplessly as Keith still refused to glance his way, “Keith, I need to know.”

“Shiro-”

“There’s nothing to worry about if you got into a fight,” Shiro tried to guess at what was really causing Keith such distress, “You’ve had them before. We’ll just go get you some ice and-”

“Shiro-”

“Keith,” Shiro sighed as he stepped forward, focusing on only the raven-haired teen, “You’re worrying me, buddy. I just want to make sure you’re okay.” 

“I’m fine,” Keith frowned before he sighed tiredly, “I’m going back to the dorms.”

Shiro was about to argue when Keith took a step on his left leg and groaned in pain. Shiro saw him bite his lip hard as he put his full weight on his leg. Something was really wrong, and Shiro knew that now. Keith almost never made any indication that he was hurt unless it hurt a lot. Something had happened. Something bad enough that he was either too frightened to tell Shiro about it or avoiding it for other reasons.

“Keith,” he steadied the wounded friend as Keith closed his eyes, “You’re hurt. What happened?”

“Not...not here,” Keith pleaded as his eyes wandered back to the room and back to Shiro’s own, “I...I...can’t…”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Shiro soothed the agitated boy as they moved forward and another pained sound bled from Keith’s throat, “One step at a time. We can go to the medical wa-”

“No,” Keith frowned as he took another step forward and let out a whine, “Not...not right now.”

“ _Keith,_ ” but Shiro couldn’t deny it when Keith sent him those upset eyes, “Alright. Let’s get you to my room, but as soon as we’re there, you’re telling me what happened.”

“Shiro-”

“No, I don’t want you walking around with injuries,” Shiro stated firmly before his voice softened, “You could cause permanent damage if we don’t get it looked at. I’m just worried for you, Keith.”

“I know,” Keith gazed away with a gloomy look. Shiro wrapped one arm around Keith’s waist, avoiding the hurt area. Slowly, step by step, they limped up to the senior cadets’ dorm where Shiro lived. By the time they reached his room, Shiro was wincing at every little-pained noise the raven-haired man was making. Opening the door with one hand, he helped the smaller boy into his room. Leading him to his bed, which would hopefully be more padded and comfortable, Shiro settled him down to lay flat on his back.

It took some work, and by the time they were finished, Keith had tears in his eyes. Shiro didn’t know whether it was from the pain his body was feeling, whatever had happened, the humiliation of Shiro finding out, or a mixture of all of three, but he lightly rested his hand on the younger’s shoulder. He let the room be silent for a few minutes so they could both collect their thoughts before speaking.

“Keith, I just want to help you, you know that, right?”

“Of course I do,” Keith turned his head to stare at Shiro.

“And I can’t do that if I don’t know why you’re hurt,” he frowned as Keith looked away, “Please, Keith. I’m still not giving up on you. And I told you to never give up on yourself. Now you need it.”

“I can’t…”

“Did you fall?”

“...” Keith said nothing.

“Did someone push you into anything?”

“...” Another round of silence as Shiro’s mind started going to the darker places that he hoped he was thinking too much into.

“Did you get into a fight?”

“...” Keith didn’t react as he stared at the sleeve of his jacket.

“Did...was it a student?” Shiro asked hesitantly, hoping against all odds that it was just an overconfident bratty cadet out for the number one spot that Keith held. People were always jealous of the cadet because of how well he could pilot and fight, and one-sided petty rivalries and hate could happen. Especially if the school was big enough, as was the Garrison.

“...” Keith squirmed but grimaced as his leg ended up moving.

“Keith,” Shiro’s terror grew as his nerves frizzled all over, “...Was it a teacher?”

“I…” He shook his head as more tears gathered, and Shiro knew he was one breath away from bursting like a dam, “I can’t...you’ll get...I can’t…”

“Keith, it doesn’t matter about me,” he hurried on when he saw Keith open his mouth, “What you need to worry about is you. If not, at least tell me for my own sake? I care, Keith. You’re my best friend. I can’t let you go on hurting if I can help stop it.”

Keith stared at him for a few moments before some tears slipped down his face. Not disturbing the injuries Shiro knew about, he wrapped the teen into a loose but warm hug. Keith let out a few sobs before he tucked his head into the older’s chest. He still did not talk.

“I know that bruise is from a hand pressing on your face,” Shiro felt the boy tense before gradually relaxing again, almost limp in his arms as Shiro rubbed his back soothingly, “And I know it’s hard to hurt your hip enough to make you limp unless someone else did it.”

“He was going to get you into trouble,” Shiro almost missed Keith’s whisper, “You...could lose your piloting to Kerberos. You could get kicked out of the Garrison. You could have been arrested…”

“What are you talking about?” Shiro scowled as he kept listening, mind going through all the possible things Keith was talking about, “What would I be in trouble for?”

“He said that you cheated on the simulators and that you abusing your privileges,” sad eyes peered up at him from under ebony hair strands, “I knew you weren’t because you wouldn’t, but he told me that they wouldn’t believe me when he took it to Iverson and the board.”

“Keith,” Shiro let out an unsettled sigh as he looked right into Keith’s eyes, “What happened today?”

“I got a notification that I had detention,” he paused for a few seconds before going on, “And when I got to the room, he was there.”

“It’s okay,” Shiro felt chills run down his spine because no matter how you put it, this sounded like a bad situation, “You’re okay. I’m here. I’m fine.”

“I wanted to leave, but he grabbed me before I could get back out of the room,” Keith gripped Shiro’s grey jacket tightly, “And the next thing I knew, I was on the floor, and he had his hand on my face and my arms wouldn’t move and I tried to get him to stop.”

Keith’s pained and quickened breaths were the only thing heard for a moment.

“I tried calling out, but he pressed hard enough on my jaw that I couldn’t say anything,” Keith recalled, and Shiro’s anger grew the more he listened, “He told me that there was something wrong with my blood tests and that I wasn’t human. Said you’d get in trouble for always defending me because you must have known about it too. He wasn’t making much sense.”

“And then what happened after that?” Shiro knew he had to hear the late teen out, but he promised himself that as soon as he heard the rest and got Keith to sleep, he’d be having a word with whoever he had to in order to get that creep away from Keith, “What did he do?”

“I started to move my legs, but he put his knee on my thigh and pressed down as I tried to get free. I remember a tiny cracking noise and agony in my hip,” Keith took a deep breath in as Shiro rubbed his back, “And everything went hazy for a moment. As things started to come back to me, I felt a hand...his hand starting to unzip my jacket. And then there was a hand on my side. And I panicked. I snapped as he tugged on my belt and bit his hand. I kicked him and ran out of there until I slammed into you.”

“Oh, Keith,” Shiro felt beyond pissed at how his best friend had been treated, “Come on. Let it all out.”

Keith let out a cry as he buried his face into Shiro’s neck. Shiro frowned as he ran his fingers through soft hair. He heard the other mutter a name. If Keith weren’t so distressed, Shiro would have marched out of the room to find Iverson right then and there. He had brought Keith here for a better future, not to be assaulted by a sadistic, insane professor who blackmailed and tried...what he’d tried. He had promised himself that Keith would have nothing to worry about besides the standard cadet problems. He had gotten Keith out of the home not only because of his skills with piloting, but because he didn’t want to see anything else happen to the younger. He had already lost his dad and never knew his mom. He had already been in some neglectful foster homes. Shiro didn’t want anything else to happen to the quiet, kind-hearted teen.

“Go to sleep, Keith,” he mumbled into the other’s hair as warm breath ghosted his collarbone, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“‘Kay,” Keith yawned softly before snuggling closer to the man, “Thanks, Shiro. ‘Night.”

“Good night, Keith,” Shiro smiled as the other fell asleep. Shiro stared at the grey wall opposite of the bed as he felt Keith relax slowly in his sleep. His mind instantly turned to Keith being held down by the man, trying to call out, trying to get away. It could have gone so much worse. Keith could have been severely injured or even killed.

But the older cadet knew Keith was strong. He’d just proven it today. Shiro waited another half an hour to gently pull Keith away from him and wrap the blankets around the slumbering boy who curled up like a cat. Shiro grinned softly before he strolled to the door. Glancing back at the resting teen, he let out a breath as he left the room and locked the door so only he or one of the higher-ranked professors could get inside, and Keith could leave at any time he wanted to. Taking off, he went to Iverson’s room.

(A few hours later, the teacher had been arrested and taken off the school campus. With Keith’s statement, along with some other cadets who had also been blackmailed, he was sentenced guilty, stripped of his rank, and sent to an asylum. Shiro was never a malicious person, but he hoped the man would never get out of there. Not with how it affected Keith who had nightmares until a week or two before Shiro had to leave for Kerberos. Not with the cadets who had all been hurt by him. Not with how Keith had taken the brunt of the man’s inhumane treatment for so long. Shiro really hoped the man never saw the outside of the hospital.

Even years later, after they were a couple on Earth again, Shiro makes sure the man never so much as saw Keith again.)


End file.
